Technically my second day of being “unemployed”, but my first full day at home with Archer. He went to school yesterday.

Score: Mom 1, Archer 1. It was a little rough especially since he refused to nap, but I got him to sleep by 7:30pm, giving me time to re-arm myself for tomorrow. I figure this is our transition phase. I’m hoping we figure each other out pretty quickly – especially given that pesky January deadline.

The day started with him climbing into his high chair by himself and calling me to come feed him breakfast! It was one of those things you have to laugh at, while also planning to hide the high chair. But then he threw an absolute fit when I cut his banana up for him. I just had to let him get over that – it was our last banana. So – learning how to deal with toddler tantrums.

After breakfast, I told him we were going to get dressed and go to the park with Prada. He went straight for his boots. Who needs street clothes?

We did eventually make it, though it felt like a three ring circus trying to get there: Toddler running that way, dog going the other… At least he was getting his energy out. And we remembered to bring a towel to dry everything off.

Then we took Prada home and headed straight for story time at Kidsquest. I can tell that place is going to become a regular hangout (thank you Jami and Loren). Mommy lesson #2: arrive earlier than story time to allow for playing with stuff; we got distracted by the train set on the way into the classroom. Archer just observed story time from the comfort of my [diminishing] lap. I hope he eventually starts to venture out into the gang of toddlers interacting with the teacher (today they were all pretending to be dinosaurs – it was very cute). On the way out, I let him play in the water exhibit, and we watched pennies spiral down a big funnel. He’s a very curious little man.

This is where he scores for the day! We came home and had lunch, but I missed his optimal nap window, and the rest of the day was fairly contentious. He was just super short tempered and easily frustrated until we started watching music videos: Casper Babypants, lots of animal sound songs, some alphabet songs. He was absolutely mesmerized. I had to pull him away for dinner.

But I got him in bed early and he passed out almost immediately, giving me some time to clean up, reflect on the day, and record my first day as a stay at home mom. Still working on feeling competent and in control in my new position, but off to a respectable start I hope!